The traveller-architect: mutual influences in inter-war Japan

Abstract

Between the late 19th century, and the early decades of the 20th, Japanese society underwent a major cultural change. It turned its gaze towards the Western world and enthusiastically embraced not only technological and political aspects but also the ways and customs of its new external reference, once China had been divested of that role. Meanwhile, the development of transport facilitated the exchange of experience in broad areas of knowledge between the two worlds. Many intellectuals and students travelled to other countries with the intention of having direct access to the most important education centres in the Western world. Amongst professionals and scholars who travelled to Europe and the United States, there were graduate architects from the Imperial University of Tokyo. The trip became a decisive factor in the mutual influence that developed between Western and Japanese architects, especially during the interwar period. Traveling to the West became a major step forward for modern Japanese architecture, not only in learning new techniques and theories, but also in making Japanese architects conscious of their own singularity and aesthetic originality, as many of the fundamental features of Japanese architecture were observed by these traveller-architects in the work of some of their Western colleagues.